Car

I'm posting a few pictures of my car so that when I want to sell it when I leave Japan, I can refer people to this page to check it out. (I'm not sure if I'll be able to post pictures on my older PC after Col leaves with the new Mac).

1996 Suzuki Wagon R

Tree Frog on My Crotch

I went to go tutor the other night and when I got home, I saw this tree frog on my windshield.












left: Climbing our closet door.

The Highest Open-Air Museum in Japan: Utsukushi-Ga-Hara

Garden

The garden is going crazy. There are now weeds and grasses everywhere, I can't get rid of them anymore. The veggies are still growing though.

School Festival!!

It's school festival season in Japan! Most high schools are having their school festivals at this point in the year and you can feel the excitement in the air. For months in advance, schools prepare different dances, events, choral concerts, fashion shows, food stalls, and other attractions in preparation for their festivals. The festivals last all weekend and are open to the public. Parents come and watch their kids sing and dance with their homeroom classes, eat food that the students prepare, listen to student bands, and soak in all of the good ol' fashioned innocence that is ever-present at a Japanese school festival.

left: Students get rowdy the night of the homeroom dance competition. Each homeroom learns a dance, practices for a month or two, and then performs the dance in front of the whole school (I was a judge).









left: Guitar and Mandolin Club concert. Only girls.













left: Three of my students in summer yukatas.













left: Slipper ping pong, of course!













left: A student performing tea ceremony. Preparing tea is an art form in Japan. All high schools have tea ceremony clubs in which students meet 3-5 times a week after school to learn how to make tea properly.









left: The design classes had an amazing fashion show. I wasn't surprised in the least when the wedding gowns started coming out. Many of my female students see marriage as something that will validate their lives. I've asked them if they think they could be happy and single when they're older. Answer: A laugh and a quiet, "No." The girls walked down the runway with pauses in between their steps--just like real brides. They tossed flowers into the crowd when they reached the end of the runway.



left: Most of the steps in school were covered with this type of artwork.












left: Black hair! Student choral competition. Again, each homeroom practiced for this competition. Three and a half hours long in a sweltering gymnasium. Not a single disruption. Amazing.









left: Bonfire in the main sports area on the last day.












left: Students doing the bonfire dance.













left: At the end of the bonfire ceremony, two popular seniors called boys up to the stage. Once a boy got on stage, he professed his love for a girl in the audience (the entire school was in attendance). The girl screamed; her friends pushed her up on stage. In front of the entire school, the boy asked the girl if she would be his girlfriend. Each girl said no. Each boy covered his face in shame. I was shocked. I couldn't believe boys would willingly subject themselves to this sort of torture. When I asked my students about it, they said that it's too difficult for a boy to talk to a girl individually. It's easier for a boy to tell a girl how he feels when there are many people watching and pressuring him to speak. Whoa.

Matsushiro

During WWII, the Japanese government built caves in the hearts of mountains all around Japan to protect the royal family in case of emergency. One of these massive caves is located in Matsushiro, about 45 minutes from Ueda. The government kidnapped more than 6,000 Koreans (Korea was under Japanese control at the time) to build the caves. At Matsushiro alone, an estimated 1,000 Koreans died from natural causes or suicide during the construction process.



The caves are laid out in a massive grid like the streets of a city. The air is cold and damp. Water drips from the ceiling of the caves. The ghosts of the Koreans are supposed to roam the caves at night.